FIFA’s thwarted plan that left us weary. Plus: Readers’ NWSL All-Star Game ideas

Happy Monday! It’s time to believe again. Read to the end to understand what we mean. Today:

😵‍💫 Who owns soccer?

🗓️ NWSL’s 2027 schedule

🗣️ Readers’ NWSL All-Star ideas

Up first, the week that almost ended soccer as we know it …

Soccer’s Soul at Stake: A week of revelations, rejection and reckoning

If you happened to be away toward the end of last week, don’t worry, you didn’t miss much. Just the near-implosion of soccer’s governing body and all that is wholesome in the sport.

Apparently earning a cool $15 billion from the 2026 World Cup cycle wasn’t enough for FIFA. Don’t mind that we are only weeks removed from the biggest tournament in the history of the sport — the grind (or a different g word) doesn’t stop.

Here’s the “what you missed on Glee” version of it all:

On Tuesday, FIFA announced a proposal for a new company, FIFA Forward Enterprises, that would manage commercial operations for key events like the World Cup. President Gianni Infantino also shared plans to sell 21 percent of the company to private investors. The goal, FIFA said, was to bring in $4.2 billion to be released to member associations.

JP Morgan was the chief adviser on the project, and Thrive Eternal, an investment fund set up by Joshua Kushner (brother of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner), was “expected to lead the proposed investor group.”

In its most rudimentary form, it suggested the World Cup be put up for sale.

The plan was only a proposal and required majority approval from the world’s 211 national associations and FIFA’s 37-member council, which is where things quickly got messy:

By Thursday, the 55 European federations fought back, unanimously vowing to boycott all FIFA competitions unless the FFE project was killed. Women’s competitions, starting with the U-20 Women’s World Cup in Poland in September and potentially extending to the 2027 World Cup, were first in the line of fire.

Other confederations rejected FIFA’s plan, including Concacaf, where the U.S. resides, but no one else went as far as an all-out boycott. Infantino even lost the support of his senior adviser, former U.S. Soccer president Carlos Cordeiro, who quit last week.

The days-long saga that felt  much  longer came to an end Friday when Infantino said his organization was  scrapping the proposal  after he “listened carefully to all the views” and realized the project “created divisions of a nature that … are no longer in the interest of the objective set out in the first place.” So much for that.

The question now:  Can Infantino’s presidency survive this?  UEFA is still  threatening legal action against FIFA , the English Football Association  withdrew its support for Infantino’s re-election (which is up for vote next March), and his current vice president, Victor Montagliani, could challenge his campaign.

A new FIFA president would be a welcome reset for women’s soccer,  which has had to  listen to Infantino  put the onus on women to enact change while only incrementally making improvements within his organization. Meanwhile, Megan Feringa detailed  how two women led UEFA’s charge to stand down FIFA .

Meg has more on a weird week in the sport:

Meg’s Corner: Let’s build something different

I don’t think I could have experienced a greater juxtaposition of the two sides of soccer this weekend than watching  Infantino’s Icarus moment  and the fallout as I traveled to Flint, Mich., to watch the USL2 men’s championship as a fan of Vermont Green.

On my phone,  I read about a fight over the soul of the World Cup  as fans, players and policymakers stood up to Infantino’s scheme to further commercialize the tournament. It played out in snippy statements, with Infantino forced to back down. I’d read the best parts out to my friends for their real-time reactions. We traveled with a community of more than 150 supporters, friends and family heading 600 miles away on a week’s notice to watch the boys in green  win back-to-back titles .

The highest levels of international soccer and local lower-division soccer might look like they have nothing in common beyond the laws of the game and someone lifting a trophy at the end, but  the Green have given me such an incredible experience of being able to reconnect with why I love the sport (that’s me in the photo!),  and how to be a part of something special as it’s being built — no matter how small people may think it is.

For me, this weekend,  both sides were reflections of the true soul of soccer.

For federation presidents, it was about finally drawing an overdue line in the sand on the commercialization and value extraction of the game.

For us in Flint, it was the final night we had with these players as they all scattered to their respective colleges, a celebration of another undefeated season that is always far too fleeting.

For all the hand-wringing over the impact of the World Cup in the U.S, these games matter just as much. My main takeaway from this weekend:  We can build something different.

Need to Know: NWSL’s 2027 schedule changes

The NWSL schedule is here! Well, almost. We broke news last week,  with this story  about the league’s 2027 schedule footprint. While official word is expected later this week, we can give you an exclusive preview of the preview.

For starters, the season is set to start on Feb. 11, three days before the NFL’s Super Bowl.  The hope, according to sources, is that the league will be part of the sporting hype in the lead-up to the biggest football game of the year in Los Angeles.

The start date is also a month earlier than previous NWSL seasons, mainly to accommodate the Women’s World Cup break that summer. Playoffs, as they do this year, will start in November and run up to the Championship on Nov. 21 at Audi Field in Washington, D.C. A few other ...

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